Lalu Prasad hits out at BJP after courts sends him to jail for 3.5 years in fodder scam

Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad on Saturday hit out at the BJP after a special CBI court in Ranchi sent him to jail for three-and-a-half years in connection with the fodder scam.

NEW DELHI: Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad on Saturday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Ranchi special CBI court sent him to jail for 3 and a half years in connection with the fodder scam.

Holding the BJP responsible for his sentencing, Lalu tweeted: "Rather than practicing BJP’s Simple Rule - “Follow us or We will Fix you”. I will die happily fixing myself for Social justice, harmony & equality."

In an attempt to strike an emotional chord, he also addressed a letter to the people of Bihar and shared it in a tweet. He reminded Biharis of the "long battle that he had fought against injustice and inequality" and told them what he has done over the years to bring the people of backward castes at par with others.

आप सबों के नाम ये पत्र लिख रहा हूँ और याद कर रहा हूँ अन्याय और ग़ैर बराबरी के खिलाफ.. pic.twitter.com/Ob4utoMsBb — Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) January 6, 2018

He also urged people not to be upset with the verdict. "Your love gives me the strength, your worries make me worried. I am not scared. I have the support of the entire Bihar. You are my family," he wrote in the letter.

Lalu was on Saturday sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail by a CBI special court in the fodder scam case. CBI court judge Shiv Pal Singh, who had convicted Prasad, along with 10 others on December 23, also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him for two cases in the scam.

He was fined Rs 5 lakh for each case, failing which he would serve another six months in jail, a CBI counsel said.

The court had convicted Prasad for offences of cheating, along with criminal conspiracy, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The scam is related to withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deogarh Treasury between 1990 and 1994 when Prasad was the chief minister of Bihar.

The 69-year-old RJD supremo had on Friday filed a plea seeking leniency from the CBI court citing illness and old age, according to his counsel Chittaranjan Prasad.

The RJD went into a huddle immediately after the pronouncement of the sentence. 

This is the second fodder scam case in which Prasad has been jailed.

He was sent to prison for five years on September 30, 2013. Prasad was granted bail by the Supreme Court after having spent over two-and-a-half months in jail.